Orioles Look For Depth, Potentially Adding Johan Santana
The Baltimore Orioles are at it again hoping to bolster the roster for 2014. This time, Dan Duquette is in talks with a former two-time AL Cy Young award winner, Johan Santana. Santana, who has been riddled with injuries the past few years; not only brings a veteran presence to the mound, but a competitiveness. When he is on, Johan can flat out dominate.
Santana had an amazing stretch from starting in 2003 (with the Minnesota Twins) and ending in the Big Apple for the Mets (whom he was traded to) after 2008. Only two of those years did Johan have an ERA at 3.00 or higher. For all you advanced statistics fans, his highest WHIP (walks + hits / innings pitched) over his entire major league career since becoming a full-time starter has been 1.33. With WHIP, a number placing around 1.00 or lower shows the great pitchers. His career total WHIP stands at 1.13, so he has been incredibly successful at keeping runners off the basepaths.
Coming back from a full year off due to injury, Santana’s reported velocity during workouts was in the low 80s, so he has an uphill battle in getting back to being the dominant starter he was. This is clearly a low risk signing by Duquette, and any time that you can bring in a former Cy Young winner, I say you have to take it. Hopefully, this minor league deal will become official (physical included), and we will see him donning Orioles orange and black in spring training.
Check out how Santana did against the Orioles in this game.
Brian’s thoughts: I think Santana will be good fit for the Orioles organization. Santana is a very smart pitcher and very well respected by baseball players. Santana will be a good teacher for the younger pitchers and almost be like a coach. As Santana’s velocity comes back he may be able to help the Orioles out of the bullpen.